Author Topic: Disappointing TV Shows  (Read 2677 times)

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Offline Eternally Learning

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Re: Disappointing TV Shows
« Reply #60 on: Apr 10, 2012, 09:52:16 AM »
I like tBBT, but I also find it very disappointing. There is this simmering level of mysogyny lurking beneath the surface that crops up every now and then that I find very off-putting. The addition of the new female characters has mitigated this somewhat, but it has morphed it as well. Now when some woman goes baby crazy they have a cadre of women who also get baby fever. Or like when Bernadette morphs into whatshisnames harridan of a mother.

I find the show does best when it sticks with character based humor as opposed to societal role based humor. But then again, I find that to be true of most shows.

I don't know about out-and-out misogyny, but there's definitely a focus on the boys.  Still, comedy revolves around playing on stereotypes and societal perceptions and I honestly find it hard to believe that anyone can think the main guys couldn't be the most blatant stereotypes of real people in the whole show. 

Offline teethering

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Re: Disappointing TV Shows
« Reply #61 on: Apr 10, 2012, 10:54:29 AM »
30 Rock has occasional moments, but overall it's mediocre.  The Big Bang Theory suffers from the same problems, except it's much more formulaic and I'm bored with that.  It's not on my list because I didn't expect much from it anyway, so I'm not disappointed.

Offline MikeHz

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Re: Disappointing TV Shows
« Reply #62 on: Apr 10, 2012, 11:09:23 AM »
Big Bang has its moments, but the entire show is based on stereotypes. Okay already--people who are into science are nerdy losers with poor social skills, I get it.
If you still hold the same views now as you did in high school, you probably should reexamine those views.

Offline stretcher

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Re: Disappointing TV Shows
« Reply #63 on: Apr 11, 2012, 03:36:54 AM »
During the past few years I've started watching a lot of television, so I get excited about just about everything. I also get into shows really late, often when they've already concluded or been cancelled. The really disappointing ones off the top of my head:

Heroes: I got bored with it rather quickly. I think it had a lot going for it but I didn't care for the Lost-like changes of pace. By the middle of the second season/series I didn't care about any of the characters

' Todd Margaret: It was unfunny to me, and it looked an awful lot like a comedy I would like

Battlestar Galatica(sp?): I can't put my finger on why. I may give this one another shot soon though because I tried it out when I was extremely busy with work and life and couldn't even manage to watch an entire episode at a time

And a string of shows that looked interesting to me, but were cliche and/or boring, over-stylized and trite, or just plain stupid:
- New Girl
- Revenge
- The Cleveland Show
- Touch
- Prison Break
- The Booth at the End
- Terra Nova
- Reaper

Offline Plastique

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Re: Disappointing TV Shows
« Reply #64 on: Apr 11, 2012, 03:42:51 AM »
Good call on The Cleveland Show. After Family Guy and American Dad, wow, what a dud.

Online Rai

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Re: Disappointing TV Shows
« Reply #65 on: Apr 11, 2012, 06:34:30 AM »
Big Bang has its moments, but the entire show is based on stereotypes. Okay already--people who are into science are nerdy losers with poor social skills, I get it.

I just got tired of the show. It was funny for a few years, but now they are practically using the same jokes over and over again with a different wording.
There's, another example. See, here I'm now sitting by myself, uh, er, talking to myself. That's, that's chaos.

Offline alexbutterfield

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Re: Disappointing TV Shows
« Reply #66 on: Apr 12, 2012, 08:22:00 PM »
30 Rock is great.

Jack loves the blacks

Offline alexbutterfield

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Re: Disappointing TV Shows
« Reply #67 on: Apr 12, 2012, 08:30:11 PM »
I liked the second series of True Blood - some very funny religious satire on a mainstream show was great - and I'll watch more when someone lends me the series, but I'm in no hurry.

How about:

The Simpsons

soooooo much hype and I just never thought it was that funny. It's pleasant, and I can sit through it without being bored particularly, but it NEVER makes me laugh. Add Futurama, American Dad to that category too.

Lost and Heroes disappointingly lost their focus very quickly (before the end of series 1) - it was at the first whiff of a franchise.

Flight of the Concords season 2. Wow, what a drop in quality. That goes for Glee too, I was very very surprised that I liked season 1.

Dexter is the one I don't get, everyone loves it, and it's just meh. I've seen every series and it's just not that good. At least it's unpredictable though. I'm usually very quick to see where a plot is heading, but they really throw in red herrings in this show, and some very subtle ones too. I appreciate that, because if it was predictable then my hours of watching this with my wife would be painful.

I need to watch the wire again to cheer me up.

Offline WC

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Re: Disappointing TV Shows
« Reply #68 on: Apr 12, 2012, 08:33:12 PM »
Add Futurama
Oh no he didn't!

Heretics get burnt.

Offline alexbutterfield

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Re: Disappointing TV Shows
« Reply #69 on: Apr 12, 2012, 09:05:17 PM »
I regularly put an episode on Netflix, but its when I have 20 minutes and no time to pick anything else. It is utterly bland, and the same jokes over and over.

Offline goodthink

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Re: Disappointing TV Shows
« Reply #70 on: Apr 12, 2012, 09:25:43 PM »
Eureka - Really can't stand this show. It's not funny. It's not dramatic. I guess it is supposed to be quirky and fun?


Warehouse 13 - People seem to like this show. I am not sure why. The production values are incredibly low, even for SYFY standards, the and the acting horrible.


True Blood - I liked parts of the first season, but the show completely fell apart in the second season. This isn't saying much since I thought the good parts of season 1 was the over-the-top camp style of the show. But ultimately the show is just about tits, abs and ass and not very compelling.


The Shield - Good show, but not in the same league as the Wire. The show suffered from some inconsistencies, and at times I struggled to suspend my disbelief and accept someone so stupid could be so corrupt and so successful. Yes, I know how the show ended, I just didn't find it believable.


Fringe - Seemed like it could be good. Total crap. Not sure how or why this show is still on the air.


Grimm - The concept is cool. I like the concept a lot. The execution sucks. Very inconsistent with the rules. Very poor use of the actors involved, poor casting and just plain poor script writing.


House - I think the show should have ended after the second season. Far to formulaic to be interesting week to week. The writing seems to be schizophrenic at times and the constant over-analyzing of everything and everyone is annoying.


Reaper - I loved the pilot, which Kevin Smith directed iirc, and was hyped about the show. They had the right people in the cast, an excellent premise and then.... what? Smith didn't direct any more shows and it went to crap. Nothing past the pilot was any good. In fact, watch the pilot then watch the very next show and note how much it sucked after. Hard to believe it used the same people.


Enterprise - Thought this would be a great show. Looked great. Had actors I really have enjoyed watching (Baccula) and a hot new vulcan (shower scene in pilot was the hottest thing in any trek franchise). But they abandoned the whole time travel premise of the show when ratings didn't materialize instead of working on making the story less convoluted and more interesting. After that, the show was doomed to fail. Sad really. I think they could have done a lot more with this.


Voyager - After TNG ended I really needed a fix. Voyager made me hate Trek. It's the worst of the Trek franchises which is saying a lot.


Californication - First season was ok. It really was. I expected the next few seasons would see Hank Moody struggle and come to terms with growing up and maturing. I thought we would see his love of women's parts mature into a genuine love of women. Never happened. As I watched the show it became more and more apparent they were set on grinding the premise into the ground without giving any kind of character development or satisfaction for sticking it out. The show is basically a showcase for tits and little else.  I really, really, REALLY hate this show.


Pushing Daisies - never got into the show. So kill me.


Dexter - Even though the first season was flawed I liked the premise so much I overlooked the classic warning signs: inconsistent dialogue, plots and characters. Now the show is just a wreck. It could have been so much better in so many ways.






Offline Neon Genesis

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Re: Disappointing TV Shows
« Reply #71 on: Apr 12, 2012, 09:50:51 PM »
Which vampire in the show dresses like an emo? 
It's mostly their Angel rip-off hairdos that kind of annoy me but one thing I'll give Vampire Diaries credit for is I liked that one scene where Stephen is reading Twilight and making fun of Bella.  That joke was actually rather clever.  Have you seen The Secret Circle?  Is it any good or should I stick to Charmed for my witch soap operas?

Offline WC

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Re: Disappointing TV Shows
« Reply #72 on: Apr 12, 2012, 09:51:38 PM »
Ditto ENT and VOY. OMG those hurt my brain. Thank god for sfdebris, funny how he's breathed new life into such crap with stinging unapologetic critiques. Cathartic.

Offline goodthink

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Re: Disappointing TV Shows
« Reply #73 on: Apr 12, 2012, 09:54:09 PM »
Being Human (US) - I like the BBC version even though I find George to be annoying when he turns. Caught the American version and I wanted to pull out my eyes and shove a screwdriver into my ears.

Offline Eternally Learning

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Re: Disappointing TV Shows
« Reply #74 on: Apr 12, 2012, 10:03:24 PM »
Which vampire in the show dresses like an emo? 
It's mostly their Angel rip-off hairdos that kind of annoy me but one thing I'll give Vampire Diaries credit for is I liked that one scene where Stephen is reading Twilight and making fun of Bella.  That joke was actually rather clever.  Have you seen The Secret Circle?  Is it any good or should I stick to Charmed for my witch soap operas?

I've seen a couple episodes, but it hasn't grabbed me.  My wife and mother-in-law watched it more regularly and didn't seem all that taken with it either.